Armonk, N.Y. - Visant Corporation today announced results for its fiscal year ended January 2, 2010, including consolidated net sales of $1,255.3 million, compared to $1,365.6 million for its fiscal year ended January 3, 2009, a decrease of approximately 8%.  Consolidated net income increased by 4% during fiscal year 2009 to $90.7 million from $87.0 million of consolidated net income for fiscal year 2008.  Visant also reported consolidated earnings before net interest expense, provision for income taxes and depreciation and amortization expense (EBITDA) for fiscal year 2009 of $304.7 million, a decrease of 3% compared to consolidated EBITDA of $313.8 million for fiscal year 2008.  Visant's consolidated Adjusted EBITintDA (defined below) was $327.8 million for fiscal year 2009, a decrease of 4% compared to consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of $339.9 million for the comparable period in 2008. 

For Visant's fourth quarter ended January 2, 2010, consolidated net sales were $255.1 million compared to consolidated net sales for the fourth quarter ended January 3, 2009 of $294.2 million, a decrease of 13%.  In addition, the company reported net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 of $1.3 million, compared to consolidated net loss of $2.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2008.  Consolidated EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $43.0 million, an increase of 3% compared to consolidated EBITDA of $41.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2008.  Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA was $46.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, a decrease of 9% compared to consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of $50.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Visant also today announced that its Board of Directors declared an extraordinary cash distribution to the Visant Holding Corp. stockholders and vested option holders of record on February 26, 2010, to be paid on March 1, 2010, in the aggregate amount of $137.7 million, funded from cash on hand.

Fiscal Year 2009
For the fiscal year ended January 2, 2010, net sales for the Scholastic segment were $462.7 million, a decrease of 2% compared to $472.4 million for the 2008 fiscal year.  This decrease was primarily attributable to lower overall volumes offset slightly by higher prices in our jewelry and graduation products.

Net sales for the Memory Book segment were $386.8 million for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2010, a decrease of 2% compared to $393.3 million for the 2008 fiscal year.  This decrease was primarily attributable to lower volume in both our memory book and commercial print operations year-over-year, offset somewhat by higher prices from new and enhanced products and service offerings.

Net sales for the Marketing and Publishing Services segment decreased $95.3 million, or 19%, to $406.0 million during the fiscal year ended January 2, 2010 from $501.4 million for fiscal 2008.  This decrease was primarily attributable to lower volumes in our sampling, direct marketing and educational book component operations, offset in part by incremental volume generated by the Phoenix Color operations acquired in 2008. 

For the fiscal year ended January 2, 2010, the Scholastic segment reported Adjusted EBITDA of $78.8 million, an increase of $0.7 million compared to $78.1 million for fiscal 2008.  This slight increase was primarily due to higher prices in our jewelry and graduation products, the impact of cost reduction initiatives and lower precious metal costs year-over-year in our jewelry operations, partially offset by lower overall volumes.

The Memory Book segment reported Adjusted EBITDA of $155.2 million for fiscal year 2009, an increase of $11.6 million, or 8%, compared to $143.5 million for fiscal 2008.  This increase was primarily the result of strong operating performance and the impact of cost reduction initiatives undertaken during the year.

The Marketing and Publishing Services segment reported Adjusted EBITDA of $93.8 million for the 2009 fiscal year, a decrease of $24.5 million, or 21%, compared to $118.3 million during the full fiscal year 2008.  This decrease was primarily due to lower volumes in our sampling, direct marketing and educational book component operations, offset somewhat by incremental volume generated by the Phoenix Color operations acquired in 2008 and the impact of facility consolidations and other cost reduction initiatives.

Fourth Fiscal Quarter 2009
Net sales of the Scholastic segment decreased $6.2 million, or 4%, to $137.7 million for the fiscal quarter ended January 2, 2010 from $143.9 million for the fourth quarter ended January 3, 2009.  This decrease was primarily attributable to lower volumes in our jewelry products.

Net sales of the Memory Book segment decreased $8.9 million, or 34%, to $17.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to $26.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2008.   This decrease was primarily due to the shift in timing of shipments from the fourth quarter to the third quarter resulting in lower volume in our memory book business in the fourth quarter as well as lower volumes in our commercial print business year-over-year.

Net sales of the Marketing and Publishing Services segment decreased $24.4 million, or 20%, to $99.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2009 from $124.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2008.  This decrease was primarily attributable to lower volume in our sampling, direct marketing and educational book component operations.

Adjusted EBITDA for the Scholastic segment decreased $2.8 million, or 9%, to $26.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2009 from $29.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2008.  This decrease was primarily due to lower volumes in our jewelry products.

Adjusted EBITDA for the Memory Book segment was a loss of $4.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to a loss of $3.9 million for the prior year comparative period.  This slight decline was primarily due to the shift in timing of memory book shipments from the fourth quarter to the third quarter and lower commercial print volume.

Adjusted EBITDA for the Marketing and Publishing Services segment decreased $1.3 million, or 5%, to $23.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2009 from $25.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.  The decrease was primarily attributable to lower volume in our sampling and direct marketing operations, offset by the favorable impact of facility consolidations and other cost reduction initiatives.

Consolidated Indebtedness
As of January 2, 2010, Visant Corporation's consolidated debt, comprised of the outstanding indebtedness under its senior credit facilities and its senior subordinated notes, was $826.5 million, including $10.0 million of equipment financing and capital lease obligations. Visant's cash position as of January 2, 2010 totaled $113.1 million and as of February 26, 2010 was approximately $140 million.  Visant's parent, Visant Holding Corp., had outstanding senior discount notes with an accreted value of $247.2 million, senior notes of $350.0 million and cash of $0.2 million as of January 2, 2010.    

Visant has provided a reconciliation of net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA in the accompanying summary of financial data.  

Supplemental data has also been provided for Visant's three segments: Scholastic, Memory Book and Marketing and Publishing Services.

Adjusted EBITDA Defined
Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income plus net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, excluding certain non-recurring items.  Adjusted EBITDA excludes certain items that are also excluded for purposes of calculating required covenant ratios and compliance under the indentures governing our and our parent's outstanding notes and our senior secured credit facilities. As such, Adjusted EBITDA is a material component of these covenants. Non-compliance with the financial ratio maintenance covenants contained in our senior secured credit facilities could result in the requirement to immediately repay all amounts outstanding under such facilities, while non-compliance with the debt incurrence ratios contained in the indentures governing our and our parent's notes would prohibit Visant Corporation and its restricted subsidiaries from being able to incur additional indebtedness other than pursuant to specified exceptions. Adjusted EBITDA is not a presentation made in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (GAAP), is not a measure of financial condition or profitability and should not be considered as an alternative to (a) net income (loss) determined in accordance with GAAP or (b) operating cash flows determined in accordance with GAAP. Additionally, Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a measure of free cash flow for management's discretionary use, as it does not consider certain cash requirements such as interest payments, tax payments and debt service requirements. Because not all companies use identical calculations, this presentation of Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies.